Guide

How to pay off an $8,000 credit card on $300 a month

The short answer: at $300 a month, an $8,000 card at 24% APR is gone in about 3 yr 3 mo, and you pay about $3,547 in interest along the way. Here is how that works out, and what changes it.

The example (assumptions, not your numbers)
DebtBalanceAPRMinimum
Credit card$8,00024%$240/mo

Plus $60 a month on top of the minimums. Minimums held fixed, interest charged monthly at APR ÷ 12, no new charges. Figures below are the planner’s own math on these numbers, rounded to the dollar. Minimums only means paying each debt just its own minimum, nothing extra; when one is paid off, its minimum stops instead of moving to the next debt.

Minimum vs. $300 a month

  • Minimum only ($240/mo): 4 yr 8 mo, about $5,315 in interest.
  • $300/mo: 3 yr 3 mo, about $3,547 in interest.
  • $500/mo: 1 yr 8 mo, about $1,739 in interest.

At 24% the first month’s interest on $8,000 is about $160. That’s the part of every payment that buys nothing. Whatever you pay above it comes off the balance, so the first extra dollars do the most work.

Ways to shorten it

Keep paying the same amount even as the statement minimum falls. Most card minimums shrink with the balance, and following them down stretches the payoff out.

Stop new charges on the card while you pay it down. The example assumes none.

Put one-time money (a tax refund, a bonus) straight on the balance. The planner lets you add these as one-off payments and shows how far the date moves.

A lower rate helps too, but read the terms: a 0% balance transfer usually charges a fee, and the rate jumps when the promo ends.

Open this example in the planner

Opens the free planner with this example already typed in. Swap in your own balances, rates and minimums. No signup, no bank connection, and your numbers stay in your browser.

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